Balance of Terror
' |image= |series= |production=6149-09 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Paul Schneider |director=Vincent McEveety |imdbref=tt0708420 |guests=Mark Lenard as Romulan Commander, Paul Comi as Lt. Stiles, Lawrence Montaigne as Decius, , Stephen Morris as Lt. Robert Tomlinson, Barbara Baldavin as Ens. Angela Martine, Garry Walberg as Cmdr. Hansen, John Warburton as Centurion |previous_production=Charlie X |next_production=What Are Little Girls Made Of? |episode=TOS A14 |airdate=15 December 1966 |previous_release=The Conscience of the King |next_release=Shore Leave |story_date(s)=Stardates 1709.2-1709.6 |previous_story=Charlie X |next_story=What Are Little Girls Made Of? }} =Summary= The Enterprise is patrolling along the Romulan Neutral Zone, a border between the Federation and the Romulan Empire. As Captain Kirk is performing the wedding ceremony of crewmembers Angela Martine and Robert Tomlinson, an Earth outpost announces that it is under attack from the Romulans. Kirk witnesses the destruction of the outpost, but is helpless to assist. The Romulans have perfected an invention that renders their ships invisible, and Kirk reasons he must overtake and destroy the enemy vessel, before it can return home. To the surprise of all, transmissions intercepted from the Romulan ship reveal that they look almost exactly like the Vulcans, which causes Lieutenant Stiles to express his distrust of Mr. Spock. When the Romulan commander is finally cornered, he self destructs his ship, rather than surrender, and Stiles, whose life has been saved by Spock, realises his prejudicial attitude is wrong. Page 39 =Errors and Explanations= Nitpicker's Guide for Classic Trekkers Plot Oversights # Ability of the outpost to maintain position. They must have manuvering thrusters embedded in the rock. # Romulan home world names taken from Earth mythology. Either they were chosen by Starfleet for identification purposes, or Romulan mythology shares many elements with that of Earth. # Differing names for the second planet in the Romulan system. Rom II could be an alternative name for Remus. ' Equipment Oddities # Scott stating that the Romulan ship only has impulse power, despite being able to cover great distances in a short amount of time. '''Perhaps it just ''appears to only have impulse power, because it takes a lot of power for the weapon from other systems, such as the warp drive. # Kirk not telling Sulu to move the Enterprise to the side while escaping the energy bolt from the weapon. Such a move could reduce the speed of Enterprise enough for the bolt to come into contact with the rear of the nacelles. Nit Central # Nove Rockhoomer on Sunday, April 13, 2003 - 12:26 am - What took the Romulan ship so long to fire when they dropped the cloak at the end of the episode? Spock had time to run back down the corridor, ready the phasers and fire before the Romulans did a thing. The systems for transferring power between the cloaking device and the weapons may have been damaged. # inblackestnight on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 6:26 pm - If the Romulans left the Vulcans before warp was invented, it must've taken them a very long time to get to what is now Romulas/Remus. They probably used a generational ship. Internet Movie Database Character error # While officiating at a wedding ceremony, Captain Kirk says, "Since the days of the first wooden vessels, all shipmasters have had one happy privilege: that of uniting two people in the bonds of matrimony." This is false; whatever Starfleet's own fictional regulations may be, the captains of seagoing ships have no particular power to perform weddings and, at least for the US, the UK, and the former USSR, there is no evidence that they ever did. In fact the navies of the US, the UK, and various other countries specifically prohibit a commanding officer from performing marriage ceremonies.The fact that under naval regulations, service captains are specifically prohibited from performing marriage ceremonies, doesn't stop civilian captains becoming ordained ministers. In any case, the prohibition was probably cancelled during the founding of the world government, as it dosen't make sense for captains to be allowed to conduct funerals but not weddings! Continuity # When Spock first opens the vent under his science station, flames and smoke come out. These disappear between shots even though no one takes any measures to eliminate them.The console could be fitted with an early version of the automatic fire suppression system featured in Up the Long Ladder. =Notes= =Sources= Category:The Original Series Category:Episodes